Trauma
Two and a half year have passed after the release of Trauma. It was the debut of Kratein, who managed to draw quite a bit attention to themselves but, except for some concerts, one hasn’t really heard much of them lately. Reason enough for us to investigate! The reason can be read below.
nilgoun: Hello! First of all I would like to thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. It’s always a good thing to start with a short introduction of the band: Who is Kratein, what does it mean and how the hell is it pronounced?
Kratein: Hi. I can’t remember a single interview I answered in the last three years, in which this question was skipped. I guess it’s some kind of „daily-business“, hehe. The band members are quite scattered around germany. We all are idealists, who decided to form a new band to satisfy their affinity for atmospheric extreme metal. The band’s name is pronounced the same why you write it, please don’t let yourself inspire from bodybuilders (kreatin).
nilgoun: Your debut called „Trauma“ was released quite a while ago but it’s still worth some questions. Psychic problems, escapism and overstimulation are the main themes of the record but why did you choose to set these to music? Do you think you are influenced by the „post-black metal“ trend.
Kratein: First of all: We didn’t even knew what „post-black metal“ is back when we wrote the songs for the record and, to be honest, I still don’t know what „post black metal“ shall be. We didn’t want to focus this „anti-urban“ thing, as the majority of the bands members lives in rural areas, which means we don’t have this intense experience with the life in big cities that other bands have to come to terms with. We simply set those things to music that were important for us while we composed the songs. In the years 2007-2009 all of us would have loved to escape from the daily live. „Trauma“ managed to help us to come to terms with some things. At least I think that has influenced the composition.
nilgoun: What are the main reasons to listen to Kratein?
Kratein: I think we managed to create a really upsetting atmosphere, at least that was quite important for us. The record is, as you know, a conceptual one which means there is a golden thread that links every song to each other but it’s still possible to listen to each song solely without missing something. „Trauma“ is a good record for lovers of atmospheric, upsetting music without getting dissonant. I think one does notice that I’m not really good in describing our music with words, so I would recommend listening to the record to MEINUNG BILDEN. I mostly listen to the record for nostalgic reasons.
nilgoun: How is the resonance you get from the audience, especially after the concerts you played. What do you think about critic (especially harsh one, like you got from metal1.info)?
Kratein: It’s a difficult thing. The 20 years-old wannabe-konservative internetwarriors might say we are too „gay“, but I think it’s no surprise that we are glad about it. The resonance is quite positive in general. Of course we are happy about every single positive comment, report or even inquiry. Of course we still remain realistic. Our reaction to the harsh critic of metal1.info can be read in the interview wpith them. Afterwards I would say that it was a quite amusing story for all involved.
nilgoun: You played several concerts up to today, are you satisfied with the amount or do you want to play even more concerts now? Do more and more booking agentures decide to book Kratein or do you still have to organise everything on your own?
Kratein: We haven’t played that much concerts. I’m not quite sure but I would guess that we played five up to today. Most of them were organised by befriended bands like FÄULNIS or VEHEMENZ and the concert we played on the UNDER THE BLACK SUN 2011 was quite obvious concerning our label. Besides that it’s still quite calm, probably because the band is scattered around germany this much, which results in preally high costs for gas. The times in which organizer searched for underground bands might be over as well. We aren’t the kind of band that tries to get concerts with polls or chain-letters and – to be honest- we all think that’s quite disgusting. We would love to play concerts but we try to keep everything in moderation. Four to five concerts a year would be really great though.
nilgoun: This is your time to tout for Kratein. What does constitute the typical live-concert of Kratein?
Kratein: Our concerts are still quite indigenous and unadorned but we try to perform appropriate for each frame. A full set would contain a greater amount of ambient sounds, as we appreciate the meditative experience between the songs. We would love to work with film/video material but that are dreams of the future, as that would cost quite a bit. Sadly everything stands and falls with money.
nilgoun: What was the best live-experience you had?
Kratein: There were several good experiences. My personal highlight was the concert in Karlsruhe this year. I organised everything on my own and was really feeble and exhausted before our gig. The guest appearance of Seuche (Fäulnis) evoked goosebumps. Besides that both gigs in Hamburg were really great and the concert on the Under The Black Sun was great as well.
nilgoun: Your debut was released more than two years ago which evokes the question when it’s successor will be released? Do you keep the direction of „Trauma“ or do you plan to change the style?
Kratein: We weren’t lazy after the release of „Trauma“ as we had loads of things to do with our other bands. The last two years were in the sign of Todtgelichters „Angst“ and of course the upcoming record „Apnoe“. The first release of Nukular, the upcoming debut of F41.0 and the second record of SIGNUM:KARG were stressing as well.
Of course we still composed material for the successor of „Trauma“ and even finished the first songs. The work will become more intense in the near future to speed the things up but you shouldn’t expect the record before 2013/2014 though. A first new song was played during the last concerts and another song was played in Karlsruhe this year (it was titled „Outro“). I think the new material will be more direct than „Trauma“ but as a quid pro quo there will (probably) be a greater influence of „ambient“ sounds.
nilgoun: We are done! Thanks again for taking the time to answer these question. The last words are yours.
Kratein: Thanks for the interview! Listen to „Trauma“ and decide if you want to support us or not. Visit our concerts! And one last thing: There will be blood if we are compared just one more time with Shining, Farsot, Eis or Lantlos.
